Railway freight transport and logistics: Methods for relief, algorithms for verification and proposals for the adjustment of tunnel inner surfaces

In Europe, the attention to efficiency and safety of international railway freight transport has grown in recent years and this has drawn attention to the importance of verifying the clearance between vehicle and lining, mostly when different and variable rolling stock types are expected. This work consists of defining an innovative methodology, with the objective of surveying the tunnel structures, verifying the clearance conditions, and designing a retrofitting work if necessary. The method provides for the use of laser scanner, thermocameras, and ground penetrating radar to survey the geometrical and structural conditions of the tunnel; an algorithm written by the authors permits to verify the clearances. Two different types of works are possible if the inner tunnel surfaces interfere with the profile of the rolling stock passing through: modification of the railroad track or modification of the tunnel intrados by mean milling of its lining. The presented case study demonstrates that the proposed methodology is useful for verifying compatibility between the design vehicle gauge and the existing tunnel intrados, and to investigate the chance to admit rolling stocks from different states. Consequently, the results give the railway management body a chance to perform appropriate measurements in those cases where the minimum clearance requirements are not achieved

Multi-squeezed state generation and universal bosonic control via a driven quantum Rabi model

Universal control over a bosonic degree of freedom is key in the quest for quantum-based technologies. Such universal control requires however the ability to perform demanding non-Gaussian gates -- namely, higher-than-quadratic interactions at the level of the bosonic operators. Here we consider a single ancillary two-level system, interacting with the bosonic mode of interest via a driven quantum Rabi model, and show that it is sufficient to induce the deterministic realization of a large class of Gaussian and non-Gaussian gates, which in turn provide universal bosonic control. This scheme reduces the overhead of previous ancilla-based methods where long gate-sequences are required to generate highly populated targets. In fact, our method naturally yields the high-fidelity preparation of multi-squeezed states -- i.e., the high-order generalization of displaced and squeezed states -- which feature large phase-space Wigner negativities. The universal control is further illustrated by generating a cubic-phase gate. Finally, we address the resilience of the method in the presence of realistic noise. Due to the ubiquity of the considered interaction, our scheme might open new avenues in the design, preparation, and control of bosonic states in different setups.Comment: 7+5 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcome

UV Properties of Galactic Globular Clusters with GALEX I. The Color-Magnitude Diagrams

We present GALEX data for 44 Galactic globular clusters obtained during 3 GALEX observing cycles between 2004 and 2008. This is the largest homogeneous data set on the UV photometric properties of Galactic globular clusters ever collected. The sample selection and photometric analysis are discussed, and color-magnitude diagrams are presented. The blue and intermediate-blue horizontal branch is the dominant feature of the UV color-magnitude diagrams of old Galactic globular clusters. Our sample is large enough to display the remarkable variety of horizontal branch shapes found in old stellar populations. Other stellar types that are obviously detected are blue stragglers and post core-He burning stars. The main features of UV color-magnitude diagrams of Galactic globular clusters are briefly discussed. We establish the locus of post-core He burning stars in the UV color-magnitude diagram and present a catalog of candidate AGB-manqu \'e, post early-AGB, and post-AGB stars within our cluster sample.Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astronomical Journal. 46 pages, including 21 Figures and 3 tables. All data will be made publicly available by the time the article is published. In the meantime, please contact the authors for data requests. Revised version fixed error with figure numbers and caption

UV Properties of Galactic Globular Clusters with GALEX II. Integrated colors

We present ultraviolet (UV) integrated colors of 44 Galactic globular clusters (GGCs) observed with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) in both FUV and NUV bands. This data-base is the largest homogeneous catalog of UV colors ever published for stellar systems in our Galaxy. The proximity of GGCs makes it possible to resolve many individual stars even with the somewhat low spatial resolution of GALEX. This allows us to determine how the integrated UV colors are driven by hot stellar populations, primarily horizontal branch stars and their progeny. The UV colors are found to be correlated with various parameters commonly used to define the horizontal branch morphology. We also investigate how the UV colors vary with parameters like metallicity, age, helium abundance and concentration. We find for the first time that GCs associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy have (FUV-V) colors systematically redder than GGCs with the same metallicity. Finally, we speculate about the presence of an interesting trend, suggesting that the UV color of GCs may be correlated with the mass of the host galaxy, in the sense that more massive galaxies possess bluer clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astronomical Journal. 36 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Uma proposta de infraestrutura com segurança para PACS em nuvem através de identidade federada

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação, Florianópolis, 2013.Clínicas e hospitais vêm adquirindo cada vez mais recursos tecnológicos que auxiliam em um diagnóstico mais rápido e preciso, a fim de torná-lo mais dinâmico e eficaz. Isso vem fazendo com que entidades de saúde busquem equipamentos mais modernos e com recursos tecnológicos avançados. Os exames chegam aos médicos com muitas informações processadas em diferentes softwares e hardwares. Com o elevado número de informações contidas no exame, aumenta-se o tamanho e a quantidade de imagens presentes no exame do paciente. Com o passar do tempo, o volume de imagens cresce exponencialmente, saturando a capacidade de retenção de informações contidas nos dispositivos de armazenamento. A aquisição de novos hardwares para suportar tamanho acúmulo de informações tem-se mostrado um problema grave nestas instituições. Os sistemas PACS (Picture Archive and Communications System) podem adquirir, transmitir, armazenar e exibir informações de imagens médicas. O dcm4chee é um projeto de código aberto muito usado por provedores de sistemas de saúde, projetos de pesquisa e aplicações comerciais que fornece um conjunto de aplicações e bibliotecas usadas para implementar sistemas PACS. Normalmente, os sistemas PACS desenvolvidos são executados localmente em cada uma das instituições, nos seus servidores locais. Os médicos devem se cadastrar localmente em cada sistema PACS de cada uma das instituições de saúde nas quais exerçam sua profissão, para poder ter acesso às imagens médicas. Este trabalho propõe a implantação de sistemas PACS em ambientes de nuvem usando identidades federadas. Ambientes de nuvem auxiliam na eficiência do armazenamento de imagens médicas, possibilitando o acesso ao exame/laudo do paciente a partir de qualquer localidade, sendo independente a plataforma utilizada para o acesso. O acesso aos exames na nuvem é garantido e seguro através do conceito de federação que garante a confiança e segurança entre as partes. Foi desenvolvida a integração do sistema Shibboleth, que provê identidades federadas, com o sistema dcm4chee. Esta integração demonstra a utilização de PACS em nuvem através de identidades federadas.Abstract : Clinics and hospitals are acquiring increasingly technological resources that improve the diagnosis, turning it quicker, more accurate and effective. This way, the exams come to doctors with information that is processed on different software and hardware across the datacenter. With the large number of information required to make an exam, increases the size and number of images present on the examination file of the patient. The volume of images grows exponentially out of the storage devices. Then, the acquisition of new hardware to support increase on information has been a serious problem in these institutions. The PACS (Picture Archive and Communications System) may acquire, transmit, store and display information from medical images. The dcm4chee is an open source project used by providers of health systems, research projects and commercial applications that provides a set of applications and libraries used to implement PACS. Normally, developed systems PACS run locally in each of the institutions on local servers. Doctors must register locally on each system PACS of each health institutions in which they exercise their profession in order to have access to medical images. This paper proposes the implementation of PACS systems on cloud environments using federated identities. Cloud environments assist the efficient storage of medical images, enabling access to the report of the patient from any location, anywhere at any time. It was extended the dcm4chee application to integrate with the Shibboleth System, which provides federated identity. This integration demonstrates the use of cloud based PACS through the federated identity. This way the is secured and safe through the concept of federation that ensures trust and confidence between the involved parties

Risk factors associated with preterm birth: identification, prediction and evaluation in the BRISA cohort

Problem: Preterm birth is the leading cause of death and can result in significant long-term loss of physical and psychological capacity among survivors.Background: An estimated 15 million babies are born preterm every year. Prediction models based on machine learning methods have reported promising results.Aims: To identify risk factors associated with preterm birth and to develop and validate a prediction model for this outcome in a Brazilian birth cohort.Methods: Cross-sectional study of all births that occurred in Ribeirão Preto-SP and of one in three births that occurred in São Luís-MA, Brazil, in 2010. Questionnaires were applied to obtain pregnancy-related data. Multivariate adaptive regression splines were used to determine the independent variables. Preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 weeks gestational age, was the dependent variable. A random forest model was developed and its performance was evaluated by ROC analysis.Findings: The preterm birth rates were 12.7% (RP) and 14.1% (SL). The prediction and validation accuracies of the RF-based model were 91.3% and 85.5% respectively. The model can be applied starting in the third month of gestation and is more effective in identifying preterm infants with GA<31 weeks and 6 days (AUC=0.98).Discussion: It was possible to build a prediction model based on easily accessible low-cost data, without the need for complementary tests, providing results similar to those of other studies.Conclusions: Previous preterm birth and prenatal care were determinants. The use of an application for individualized patient monitoring an early stage can have positive effects on the quality of life of mother and child

Fiscalidad ambiental para incentivar: el desarrollo sustentable en Argentina

La reflexión sobre la sustentabilidad del planeta se ha convertido en una herramienta fundamental para el actuar profesional. En la actividad contable- administrativa de los agentes económicos, de hecho, posee ya formados códigos de procedimiento acordes a estándares internacionales. En este trabajo haremos un análisis a las actualizaciones sobre la materia tributaria en el escenario argentino, desde una perspectiva ordenada al bien común. Nos detendremos fundamentalmente en la integridad y el conflicto de intereses frente a posibles casos de inconsistencias y carencias normativas que pueden aparecer en el ejercicio profesional en materia tributaria.Eje temático: Contabilidad socio ambiental y RSEInstituto de Investigaciones y Estudios Contable

Microstructural and electrochemical analysis of Sb2O5 doped-Ti/RuO2-ZrO2 to yield active chlorine species for ciprofloxacin degradation

ABSTRACT: A Sb2O5 doped-Ti/RuO2-ZrO2 (Ti/SbRuZr) electrode is used to perform the abatement of ciprofloxacin (CIP, C17H18FN3O3). The catalyst was prepared using the Pechini method, and subsequently characterized by XRD, SEM-EDS, EIS and CV. The microstructural analysis of Ti/SbRuZr shows the formation of RuO2 (P42/mnm) and ZrO2 (P2/m) crystalline phases, with an average crystallite size about twice (61.2 nm) lower than Ti/RuO2 (109 nm). Additionally, SEM micrographs reveal that ZrO2 affects the morphological features of the deposited RuO2 layer, turning it into a more heterogeneous material. The electrode capacity was evaluated through the elimination of antibiotic activity (AA) of CIP, revealing that 83 and 45% of AA was removed using Ti/SbRuZr and Ti/RuO2, respectively at 0.19 A h L−1. According to CV analysis, the electrochemical mechanism for CIP degradation was found to proceed through active chlorine species (Cl2-active) on Ti/SbRuZr. This facile kinetics occurring on the ternary catalyst resulted from a high charge transfer resistance for oxygen evolution reaction, as revealed by EIS analysis. HPLC, HPLC-MS, and density functional theory were employed to propose a reaction pathway for CIP degradation. Findings from this work stands out prospective applications of anodic electrochemical oxidation to efficiently eliminate CIP, and the associated proliferation of antibiotic resistant microorganisms in aqueous media

Study of the lamellar and micellar phases of pluronic F127: A molecular dynamics approach

In this work, we analyzed the behavior of Pluronic F127 through molecular dynamics simulations at the coarse-grain level, focusing on the micellar and lamellar phases. To this aim, two initial polymer conformations were considered, S-shape and U-shape, for both simulated phases. Through the simulations, we were able to examine the structural and mechanical properties that are difficult to access through experiments. Since no transition between S and U shapes was observed in our simulations, we inferred that all single co-polymers had memory of their initial configuration. Nevertheless, most copolymers had a more complex amorphous structure, where hydrophilic beads were part of the lamellar-like core. Finally, an overall comparison of the micellar a lamellar phases showed that the lamellar thickness was in the same order of magnitude as the micelle diameter (approx. 30 nm). Therefore, high micelle concentration could lead to lamellar formation. With this new information, we could understand lamellae as orderly packed micelles.Fil: Albano, Juan Manuel Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Grillo, Damián Alexis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Facelli, Julio C.. University of Utah; Estados UnidosFil: Ferraro, Marta Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Pickholz, Mónica Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Anapole Modes in Hollow Nanocuboid Dielectric Metasurfaces for Refractometric Sensing

This work proposes the use of the refractive index sensitivity of non-radiating anapole modes of high-refractive-index nanoparticles arranged in planar metasurfaces as a novel sensing principle. The spectral position of anapole modes excited in hollow silicon nanocuboids is first investigated as a function of the nanocuboid geometry. Then, nanostructured metasurfaces of periodic arrays of nanocuboids on a glass substrate are designed. The metasurface parameters are properly selected such that a resonance with ultrahigh Q-factor, above one million, is excited at the target infrared wavelength of 1.55 µm. The anapole-induced resonant wavelength depends on the refractive index of the analyte superstratum, exhibiting a sensitivity of up to 180 nm/RIU. Such values, combined with the ultrahigh Q-factor, allow for refractometric sensing with very low detection limits in a broad range of refractive indices. Besides the sensing applications, the proposed device can also open new venues in other research fields, such as non-linear optics, optical switches, and optical communications.This work was supported by the Research and Development Program through the Comunidad deMadrid (SINFOTON S2013/MIT-2790), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (TEC2013-47342-C2-2-R) and the funding from Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) for the Project TEC2016-77242-C3-1-R AEI/FEDER,UE